Fabric Softeners – Bad Polluter!

Fabric Softeners may be one of the worse polluters in your house?

Fabric softener is one of the most toxic products. As the fabric softeners are made in a way that they stay in the clothes for a long time. The chemicals are gradually released in the air and you inhale the toxic chemicals or make them touch your skin to be absorbed.

The chemicals used in the fabric softening solutions are acrid and have strong smell. They are so strong that it becomes important for them to use a lot more fragrance to cover up the foul smell of the chemicals. The chemicals that form to be the ingredient of these softeners may cause headaches, nausea, vomiting, dizziness, skin irritation and respiratory problems.

Home Made Fabric Softener Recipes and Substitutes

A few balls of aluminum foil put in the dryer with clothes will remove static cling (the metal dissipates the charges which build up from the friction between fabrics as they tumble in the dryer). Home Physics, you gotta love it! It really works. You can also add some vinegar to the final rinse cycle. No, the clothes will not smell like vinegar when done washing. But for extra scent you can also add 10-20 drops of essential oils like eucalyptus, frankincense, lemon, or lavender. The vinegar will greatly reduce leftover soap residues in clothes after washing, thus making them softer.

Use a cup of vinegar in the rinse and a 1/2 cup of baking soda in the wash with detergent. It makes the clothes soft and more absorbent because they don’t have the soap residues that cause fabrics to be stiffer. Also absent will be the wax residues from store-bought fabric softener that usually ends up coating fibers.

Yet another homemade fabric softener recipe: In a recycled gallon-sized vinegar jug combine 2 cups baking soda and 2 cups distilled white vinegar. When mixture finishes foaming add 4 cups of hot water and essential oils to desired strength – 20 drops each of lavender and lemon works well. Shake before each use and add about 1 cup for large loads in the rinse cycle.